"Where doing your best is always top of mind"

Excellence

January 24, 2009

I went this morning with my children to go to the new Please Touch Museum here in Philadelphia. I am constantly reminded of how much history there is in this town and what amazing things lurk Behind closed doors. The new Museum is located at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park right outside of Philadelphia.

I highly recommend the museum if you have children, but what really amazed me was the Centennial Exhibition Display down on the lower level. There is an entire scale model of the Exhibition that is amazing. considered to be the first World's Fair - the Centennial Exhibition welcomed over 9 million people in 1876 to Philadelphia when the entire population of the country was only 46 Million. What struck me even more was the fact that the entire grounds and exhibition were entirely constructed in two years time.

Let's think about that for a moment. They constructed a complete city over a 285-acre tract of Fairmount
Park overlooking the Schuylkill River. The fairgrounds, designed
almost exclusively by 27-year-old German immigrant Hermann J. Schwarzmann,
was host to 37 nations and countless industrial exhibits occupying
over 250 individual pavilions. One of the buildings - Was considered to be the largest building of its time in the world. All of this done without cell phones, televisions, marketing firms or twitter. There were no bulldozers, cranes or dump trucks at the time either.

When we think about what can and cannot be done these days - think of what was accomplished only 100 years into America's existence and see what resources this country can bring to bear when it puts it mind to it. With over 300 Million People and a $13 Trillion GDP - no telling what Hermann and his team could pull off in modern times. Anything is Possible.

June 16, 2008

Curiosity

Curiosity will take you to wonderful places you never would
have otherwise known you could go. Curiosity is, at its
heart, a love for life and everything in it.

Those who are the most authentically and persistently
curious are the best informed. Simple, sincere curiosity
brings a richness of wisdom and unique experience into your
life.

The biggest impediment to curiosity is arrogance. For in
order to be truly curious, you must first admit that you do
not know.

Keep in mind that intelligence is more than a measure of
what you already know. Intelligence depends on always being
open to learning new things, some of which will contradict
and supersede what you already thought you knew.

Though curiosity will often compel you to undertake great
effort, curiosity itself requires no effort. Drop your
pretenses, allow yourself to be curious, and you are.

There is no end to the wonder that you can discover,
wherever you are, whatever you do. Be curious, and be fully
alive.

Jeff Jarvis writes a great blog post on Gary Vaynerchuk and his site WineLibraryTV.com. I think his site and his attitude reflect what can be accomplished when you are passionate about something. 80,000 people a day visit his site now. If this is not Excellence - what is? Enjoy.

April 09, 2008

I cam across an article yesterday from a gentleman who has been in the real estate business quite a while. Part of the struggle of many of us who are in the real estate business is spening our time doing damage control with the media on the real state of the current market. Are things as bad as they seem - in some cases: hell yeh. But in a many cases, the media tends to put a broad brushstroke on the market using data that may not be accurate and reliable. Why read this article, because excellence is about being your best and not taking everything at face value. A real life example that we dealt with was this headline: Foreclosures are up 75% in the United States. Here was the real data in Pennsylvania that we had to spend time communicating:

While the United States had a 75%
increase in foreclosures in 2007, The state of Pennsylvania went down 11% in the same
timeframe

Pennsylvania was
only one of 6
States to have a decline in foreclosure activity in
2007

Pennsylvaniaranks 38th out of 50
states in foreclosure Growth from 2005 to
2007

Read this article and think of the data you look at and hear on a daily basis (News, Blogs, etc...) and begin to question is there another way to look at the sitaution. You will be suprised what you learn.

December 21, 2007

Being
a fan of "The Secret", Oprah and "Eat, Pray, Love" - the author
reminds me of a jaded person who has made a career of poking holes in
other peoples work. I cringe at the example of his dream to be a
center-fielder for the Dodgers. Happiness comes from busting your gut
trying rather than not having tried at all.

Where would the world be if Sakichi Toyoda (The Founder of Toyota) had not read Samuel Smiles book "Self Help"?

Where would a whole generation of former players, coaches and
staff be if they had not read and listened to John Wooden about
mastering life?

Where would Oprah Winfrey be if she did not empower herself to be more than a poor black girl from Mississippi?

What I don't see Mr. Salerno recommending is an alternative.
He is making a connection to suicide rates because of coddling,
anti-depressants and self help books. That just does not hold water to
me. I could make the same argument that dual income self involved
parents and electronic devices had the same level of impact and
contributed to the suicide rates during that time.

Self help is anything but a SHAM. Happiness is about
curiosity - finding out more about yourself and the world around you.
Learning to see that the world is changing constantly and navigating
the river of life is a never ending journey. Life is a marathon, but if you never break the bonds of
what you know - you stagnate. Folks like Steven Covey, David Allen and
Wayne Dyer have and continue to help me grow everyday.

Complacency kills innovation and curiosity. Settling for anything is not a recipe for success - nor happiness.

July 25, 2006

What defines success in life is a person's tolerance for mediocrity. What truly makes great people excel consistently is not allowing mediocrity to enter any equation.

What defines mediocre in the workplace is the low standard so many set for others. In our attempt to not insult, not push ,not see what others are capable of - we let our environment and those around become less that what they are capable of. Do you think Danny Wegman wakes up every morning and says to his team - Let's be average.

Lance Armstrong did not win 7 straight Tour De France's by settling for average - he pushed himself harder than anyone expected him to do. While his peers were soaking up the sun on the beach - Lance was on the bike. When the sales staff of your company was at the bar at 5pm, the top sales person was still making calls and getting appointments.

My parents taught me at a young age to not settle for anything. If you are pursuing any vocation - be the best at whatever you do. If you play a sport - give it your all. When you work with others - don't leave anything on the table - show them everything you got.

I still remember vividly the first time I read this passage from president John F. Kennedy

............We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things -- not because they
are easy; but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure
the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is one that we're willing to
accept; one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win -- and the others, too.......

Where would the world be today had he not pushed us as a country to think more of ourselves?